Book Launch: The American Way of Strategy

The New York Times Sunday Book Review calls The American Way of Strategy: U.S. Foreign Policy and the American Way of Life “a shrewd and plausible critique of the drift of policy since the cold war” and Publishers Weekly praises it for “exposing the folly of the current imperial strategy” of the United States. Michael Lind, Whitehead Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation and author of The American Way of Strategy, recently appeared on CNN’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight” to discuss the book, which offers a hard-hitting and controversial new study of America’s role in the world.

Lind argues that the goal of U.S. foreign policy has always been the preservation of the American way of life — embodied in civilian government, checks and balances, a commercial economy, and individual freedom. Americans are unlikely to lose their cherished rights because of a military coup or a foreign conquest, he writes. The more plausible and frightening scenario is one in which foreign danger forces Americans themselves to jettison their way of life, sacrificing liberty to ensure security.

Video of this provocative examination of America’s current foreign policy — including a question and answer session moderated Economic Growth Program Director Bruce Stokes — is available at right, while an MP3 audio recording can be downloaded below.

Participants

• Michael Lind
  Whitehead Senior Fellow
  Author, The American Way of Strategy
• Bruce Stokes
  Economics Columnist, The National Journal
  Director, Economic Growth Program, New America Foundation